At a work session Jan. 4, the council talked mostly about how much to fine people who continue shooting off fireworks once a law is passed.

Only council president Jeff Vaughan seemed reluctant to approve a ban.

“I’m not ready to move on it yet,” he said.

Council Member Michael Stevens also showed some remorse at the idea, but agreed a ban is the best way to help police enforce a new law.

“It’s sad to take away something from the community,” he said.

Council Member Jeff Seibert said, “As long as we do it before the Fourth of July.”

“Amen,” Police Chief Rick Smith quickly replied.

If and when the council passes a ban, it won’t take effect for one year. That means there will still be fireworks this Fourth of July.

The council started discussing a few options to a total ban until Smith spoke up.

“I’ve tried to remain objective on this to let the council decide,” he said. “But with a partial ban we’d have the same issues. It would be difficult for us to do our jobs.”

He added that he personally likes fireworks, but at this point there is clear direction that citizens favor a ban. An advisory vote on the November ballot favored a ban at almost 60 percent among about 10,000 voters. Previously, a fireworks committee came up with no recommendation and an online survey of about 1,000 people placed a ban in the slight minority.

Smith said history in other communities shows that it takes time to get complete compliance on a fireworks ban.

“It takes three or four years for the citizens to get it,” he said.

So the council discussed progressive fines for noncompliance for the first three years the law would be in place, starting in 2017.

“The first year we should be more lenient,” Council Member Stephen Muller said.

Smith said police have been handing out $100 tickets, rather than the $500 allowed by law, to lawbreakers in the past. They were the ones who shot off illegal fireworks off a reservation or who discharged them on days or hours not allowed by law.

City Attorney Jon Walker, who came up with a draft law that included a blanket ban, said the fire marshal still would have the power to allow permits for community public fireworks displays, such as for the Marysville Strawberry Festival.

Smith said Boom City on the nearby Tulalip reservation will still be a piece in fireworks enforcement.

“We can’t eliminate Boom City for sure,” Mayor Jon Nehring said, adding many people come to this area on July 4 because fireworks already have been banned in their communities.

Vaughan predicted July 4 would be a nightmare for police because people may misunderstand that a ban wouldn’t start until next year.

“We won’t be able to hit every single complaint,” Smith said.

 

 

At a glance

(From fireworks committee minutes)

•Fireworks generated two to four tons of waste and no overtime for the city’s Solid Waste division.

•Fireworks generated 37.5 hours of overtime for the Street division, costing up to $3,000.

•Fireworks led to 16-24 hours of overtime to pick up trash in Parks, costing up to $2,000. Also, porta-potties are damaged at a rate of up to four a year, costing between $500 and $1,000 each.

•The fire department posts extra crews at an overtime cost of almost $3,500. There has not been a house fire in about four years. The last one was a roof fire caused by a bottle rocket that did $360,000 in damage.

 

There’s still time to let your council know how you feel. You can email them by using the first initial of their first name, followed by @marysvillewa.gov. For example, Stephen Muller is smuller@marysvillewa.gov. The other council members are: Kamille Norton, Jeff Seibert, Michael Stevens, Rob Toyer, Jeff Vaughan and Donna Wright.